Last night's half assed performance at home vs. a depleted Toronto team caused ESPN's John Hollinger to tweet this: Interesting playoff tanking situation emerging between Atlanta and Orlando -- I imagine both greatly prefer facing Indy to facing Boston....Hawks are 11-2 su vs. Indiana L13 but after reading some extremely positive player quotes about the team's current form prior to yesterday's upset loss, I can't personally see them shying away from anyone

We'll see what happens tonight where the money has already poured in on Philadelphia in their road game at Orlando while Atlanta could solidify themselves as tankers if they blow back-backs vs. Toronto. Bettors have faith in the Hawks pushing them to -5.5.

Remember, division winners are guaranteed at least a Top 4 seed, but they are NOT guaranteed homecourt advantage in the first round.

Even with the #5 seed, if Atlanta has a better record than Boston, they'll get games 1, 2, 5 & 7 on their home floor.

We've heard NOTHING from Atlanta about late season 'tanking' in an effort to drop down to the #6 seed and face Indiana in the first round. In fact, we're hearing the exact opposite:

Head coach Larry Drew: "Our focus is us. We can't control anything else outside of what we do. We'll come into Friday night's game with a defined game plan.....We're right there in the thick of things. As long as there's an opportunity for us to move up, we want to try to take advantage of that."

Center Jason Collins: "We want to finish the season strong with the last five games on our home court. We've still got a lot to play for."

Point guard Jeff Teague: "Hopefully we can get all five of those (home games to close out the season). That would be big."

Remember, division winners are guaranteed at least a Top 4 seed, but they are NOT guaranteed homecourt advantage in the first round.

Even with the #5 seed, if Atlanta has a better record than Boston, they'll get games 1, 2, 5 & 7 on their home floor.

We've heard NOTHING from Atlanta about late season 'tanking' in an effort to drop down to the #6 seed and face Indiana in the first round. In fact, we're hearing the exact opposite:

Head coach Larry Drew: "Our focus is us. We can't control anything else outside of what we do. We'll come into Friday night's game with a defined game plan.....We're right there in the thick of things. As long as there's an opportunity for us to move up, we want to try to take advantage of that."

Center Jason Collins: "We want to finish the season strong with the last five games on our home court. We've still got a lot to play for."

Point guard Jeff Teague: "Hopefully we can get all five of those (home games to close out the season). That would be big."

why bother with divisions then if you win division and don't get homecourt? hilarious David Stern rules. why would getting 'guaranteed 4 spot' mean anything if you play on the road vs the 5 seed?! wouldn't that just mean you are the five seed?!!!